REGINA 鈥� The premiers of British Columbia, Alberta and Saskatchewan have agreed to make it easier for people moving between the provinces to license their cars or continue apprenticeships.
Starting in April 2015, people who move between the three provinces won鈥檛 need to get their cars inspected, if their vehicles are less than four years old. Nor will they need an inspection if one has been done at a designated facility within the last 90 days.
The decision was made Thursday by sa国际传媒 Premier Christy Clark, Alberta Premier Alison Redford and Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall in a conference call for a meeting of what they call the 鈥淣ew West Partnership.鈥�
鈥淩ight now, technically, if you bring in a vehicle, any vehicle, and you want to plate it here or you want to plate it in British Columbia, you could be required to have an inspection on the vehicle,鈥� Wall said in Regina.
鈥淎nd we鈥檙e just saying look, that鈥檚 not necessary, especially for the newer vehicles.鈥�
Currently, all vehicles must be inspected once they arrive in the new province, but that can be cumbersome and costly.
The premiers also agreed that apprentices in the skilled trades will be able to move without having to start their training all over again.
Wall quoted Sarah Watts-Rynard, executive director of the Canadian Apprenticeship Forum, who said sa国际传媒 has 13 apprenticeship systems. She said when an apprentice loses his or her job in one part of the country, it can be difficult to transfer employment hours and levels of training to another region where there is a higher demand.
鈥淵ou know that鈥檚 probably dumb for sa国际传媒 to have that kind of a system, especially when we have a labour shortage in parts of the country, especially in the trades,鈥� Wall said.
鈥淎nd so we three 鈥� the New West Partnership premiers, are going to direct our ministers to harmonize these apprenticeship initiatives across the West, to do by September 2014. It鈥檚 an aggressive target, but that鈥檚 the one we鈥檝e set.鈥�
The premiers say that will be better for employers that operate in more than one province and will allow Western provinces to more easily share training resources.
The premiers also signed a memorandum of understanding to look at getting more open-source textbooks to help save students and their parents money. sa国际传媒 already makes nearly 20 textbooks available free online to post-secondary students. sa国际传媒 has started with entry level courses, the ones that are most subscribed, Clark said.
鈥淧arents and students embraced this with open arms because it鈥檚 such a relief not to be spending $600 or $1,000 on your textbooks,鈥� Clark said.
She said there鈥檚 less variation in the course offerings between the provinces at that level so it makes 鈥渁 really, really good target for all of us to work on together.鈥�
